Man warns of jury duty scam in Spokane County

Mar 29, 2018

Harvey Caine of Spokane was baffled when he got a call from the Spokane Sheriff's Department on Monday. "I was like what's wrong am I in trouble? Did something happen?” asked Harvey when he received the call.

The caller on the other line identified himself as Sheriff Alexander of Spokane County, claiming Harvey had two Class D citations for not making an appearance for jury duty. When Harvey heard this, red flags started to pop up, because he never received anything in the mail. "That sort of made me suspicious because I had been talking to one of my colleagues and she said she had gotten a call like this recently she thought it was a scam."

His colleague was right! It was a scam and still is. Scammers are using websites where they can spoof the number they are calling from, making it seem as though they're someone else. The Spokane Sheriff's Department says that there are other scams out there as well. These scams state that they're from the IRS, a private business or another government agency. These pesky scammers threaten arrest and or some other legal action. But don't fall for it. The sheriff's department says if this happens to you report it.

Harvey's intuition kicked in, and when he started to ask tougher questions, the scammer became pushy. "I started asking what's your badge number and what address do you want me to go to? As soon as I asked for his badge number they hung up," Harvey added.